“I’m a First Descendant, but a woman can’t be an Included.  There are no Sisters of Ezekiel.  So no, I don’t.”  She paused for a long moment.  “Samuel’s a good person and I want you to know that.  This isn’t something he asked for.  He says he was born to it, fated to it, and he’ll lead the Family and wait for the Others and write down the music till the day he dies.”

The fire was dying.  An animal of some sort rustled in the brush.

“It’s that possum coming back to get you,” she said, glad to be done and that Chace asked no more.

“Why?  I saved his life.”

“You threw him into the bushes.”

“He’s coming because he smells bacon grease and fried squirrel.”

The pale moon had crested the sky and was on its descent.  There was just enough light that Charlotte could make her way to the creek and wash.  She came back carrying a bucket of water and her shirt.

Chace had put out the fire and made a bed with what seemed to be all of the blankets in the wagon.

“You said rocks.”

“I know it’s the ground.  I understand there are rocks everywhere and that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but thank you.”

He lay down and rested his head on his saddle.  Charlotte sat next to him.  In that other far away life she’d once led, she’d be in her father’s house bathing in a copper tub, brushing out her long hair, putting on her clean fresh nightgown, settling into a comfortable bed with a lamp and a good book. Though not with a member of the tribes beside her, this was true.

“Do you believe in beings that come from the sky?”

“The old ones say spirits come from the sky all the time.”

“Maybe the tribes are Family and you don’t even know it.”

“Maybe we’re the Others,” he said, “and you don’t even know it.”

She shivered.  “Don’t even say that.  It’s too scary.”

“Maybe there’s nothing.”

“My father says you have to have faith, you have to believe, it’s why we’re here.  All of us.”

“I believe in the sun and moon, that’s it.”

“And the stars,” she said.  “You have to believe in the stars.”

“All right.  I believe in the stars.”

“You believe in your grandfather.”

Chace stared out into the night.  “You’re right.  I do.”